


Smuggler's Price

by StarlingStar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (Attraction)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:15:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29349528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlingStar/pseuds/StarlingStar





	Smuggler's Price

The straight lines of hyperspace dissolved into a First Order star destroyer and Myla Sorraya let out a string of curses. She yanked on her flight stick to bank the shuttle sharply to the side. R3-D5 screamed high-pitched noises into her headset as the old ship shuddered.

"I know, Reds, I know!" She spun and dove as two TIE fighters detached themselves from a patrol group and headed in her direction.

 _We can't handle much more of this,_ Reds said through another series of beeps and whistles.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Myla angled the shuttle down towards the planet and gunned it.

Batuu was a backwater where no one would think to look for her, what the hell was the First Order doing here?

Her com was buzzing but she ignored it. It would be worse if they identified her.

The TIEs were closing in as she broke atmosphere and saw the familiar spires below. Myla had only been to Batuu a few times before, but the huge rock spires rising out of the jungle were a sight she'd never forget. Instead of heading for the larger spires and the spaceport though, she angled low and away from town. There was no way this old hunk of junk could outfly modern First Order TIE fighters, but she was willing to bet they didn't spend a lot of time on the surface.

Thankfully both TIEs followed her down as she dropped towards the planet's surface. She was low enough to have to dodge between the spires now, she just needed to find one spot she remembered from her last trip here.

 _They're acquiring a target lock,_ Reds said in her headset.

"Gotta find the right spot." Myla juked the ship around a spire as green lasers shot past them. Reds squealed but she ignored it. The R3 unit was always such a drama queen.

Ahead she finally saw it, a particular cluster of spires creating a small canyon. If she remembered right, a fallen tree to the other side would allow just enough space to fly underneath. If she remembered wrong, going out in a giant fireball was better than dying in a First Order prison cell.

Reds beeps were becoming more frantic. _I hope you know what you're doing._

"Don't I always?" Myla angled the ship into the canyon. "Don't answer that."

Maya accelerated into the canyon then immediately reversed thrusters, slamming her hard against the crash webbing. She let the ship spin to the right, ignoring Reds' moan as she saw the opening just where she remembered, and gunned it again. Something struck on the stop and the whole shuttle shook, but then they were through. She slowed again, keeping the ship below a canopy of vines that were common in this part of the planet.

Behind her an explosion rocked the spires and she smiled. No way the TIEs could have turned in time.

 _Still tracking one_ TIE, Reds said.

"Bantha spit." They had drifted almost to a stop. Myla braked before they drifted out of the canopy and brought the ship to the ground with an abrupt thud that rattled her teeth. She reached up to start pulling levers. "Power it down Reds, everything. Stay off their scanners."

The shuttle whirred down to silence, lights going off one by one until the cockpit was dark except for sunlight filtered through the canopy overhead.

Without her engines on she could head the whine of the remaining TIE's engines as it came around for another pass. "I hope this works Reds." Myla unsnapped her crash webbing, rubbing the bruise already forming on her shoulder, and leaned forwards to look up through the vines. A shadow flitted overhead as the TIE shot past them, engines fading into the distance.

She counted to ten before she let her breath out. "Try a short range scan, Reds."

After a moment the droid beeped. _No hostiles in range._

Myla smiled. "Lets get to town then." Her grin disappeared when the entire console lit up red. "Yes, yes I see it. Yes I know we needed that piece." The droid really was insufferable sometimes.

From the readout on the console it looked like they could handle moving around on the planet, but she wouldn't be spaceworthy until they'd done some repairs.

Myla sighed. "Let's get her in the air and limp a little closer to town. We'll have to hide it somewhere until I figure out if they got our id, and they'll be back for the other downed TIE eventually."

Reds warbled in assent.

They flew slow and low through the jungle until they found a spot Reds judged was about a mile walk into Black Spire Outpost.

"Yes you have to stay here," Myla said as she walked out of the cockpit. "Someone has to watch the ship. Just keep her ready to move, and ping my com if anyone comes by."

Reds let out a series of petulant whistles.

"Of course I'll be fine on my own." Myla hit the latch and stepped out into the light of Batuu's multiple suns.

Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail and tucked into her grey flight jacket. She'd stopped wearing it in the standard Chalactan braids when she left home at sixteen. It looked better down anyway, and it went well with her dark eyes and light brown skin. Below the jacket she had a utility belt, black tights, and knee-high leather boots. A hold-out blaster fit snugly inside the right boot.

She was halfway to town, picking her way through the jungle, when a thick static-y voice called out "stop there."

Myla put her hands up. "I'm just taking a walk, what's going on?"

Two troopers emerged from the brush. Their armor was gleaming white and they both had large black F-11D blaster rifles pointed at her. "First Order patrol," one said. "Searching for Resistance spies."

She thought fast. "I saw two people running away from town. They came from that way." She pointed back towards the crash site.

"I'll check it out." The trooper turned to his partner. "Take her back for questioning."

As the first trooper disappeared into the trees the second held out a pair of stuncuffs, two grey metal rings connected with a short bar. With a flick of his thumb they snapped open. "Put them on."

She flashed a smile. "I'll come quietly, no need for that."

He just shook them towards her. "Put them on."

"Ok, ok." She held her wrists out and tried not to cringe as the metal cuffs snapped shut. "What am I supposed to call you?"

"I'm trooper CL-451." He gestured in the direction of town. "Let's go."

"They must call you something else," she said as they walked. "Your buddies can't be repeating all those numbers all the time."

They walked in silence for a while before he finally said "They call me Cal."

She smiled. The blaster was still tucked into her boot, but he'd probably be able to take her out before she could get to it. She was going to have to play this with finesse.

"So are you taking me back to your base?" She grunted as a tree branch snapped against her face. The cuffs made walking more annoying.

"No base here," Cal said. His voice was still muffled and distorted by the helmet. "We'll see what Lieutenant Agnon has to say. If you're connected to the Resistance we'll take you up to the ship."

That must be the Star Destroyer she'd seen in orbit. There was no way she was getting out if she ended up there.

"So you need to make sure I'm not a resistance spy." She said reached up with both hands, bending her elbows awkwardly to move her cuffed wrists, and tugged down the zipper on her flight jacket. "You should search me yourself before you let me anywhere near your Lieutenant." She twisted to look back but it was so hard to tell if he was noticing with the helmet, and she couldn't look long or she'd trip.

"You're being very accommodating for a spy," Cal said.

"I'm a trader with work to do," she said. "And I'm sure you have work to do here tracking down the Resistance. So let's both get back to work."

She could see lights from Black Spire Outpost through the trees, they'd be in town soon. If this didn't work she was going to have to try to make a run for it and hope she didn't take a blaster bolt in the back. Cal was slowing down though, he seemed to be thinking.

"If there's somewhere else you could take me first I'm sure we could get this all straightened out," Myla said, putting on her best helpful expression.

Cal seemed to have come to a decision. He grabbed her arm and turned away from the path into town, marching her around the outskirts of town. As they came closer there were a few people out walking, but clearly no one was going to interrupt a First Order Stormtrooper and his prisoner. Everyone seemed to find somewhere else they had to be. He pushed her down empty streets with the spires rising in the background behind squat mud-colored huts until they came to a nondescript brown building with a dark steel door.

She got a quick glance at the street, a lot of ramshackle two and three-story buildings, before he opened the door and shoved her inside.

It was a tiny single room with a metal bed frame and a thin mattress, a small table. A tiny window letting in some light through a scuffed and chipped pane of plastic and there was one door that probably lead to storage and the refresher.

"They don't bunk you in the spaceport?" Myla asked.

"No room." Cal grabbed something from his belt and one of the cuffs on Myla's wrist popped open. He grabbed her arm and yanked her over to the bed where he snapped the cuff around the metal frame. In a few moments his gloved hands ran from her head to her boots. Clearly he had some experience with this. He removed her belt and found the blaster in her boot. "Just a trader?"

"It's a dangerous galaxy."

"Sure." He stood up and walked towards the smaller door. "Don't go anywhere."

As soon as he disappeared into the other room she went to work on the cuffs, but he'd done a good job. The bed frame was bolted down and even stretching her leg out as far as possible there was nothing she could pull over to help pry the cuffs off. This was going to be a challenge.

[continued...]


End file.
